U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,450 entitled "Modular Electric Switch-Circuit Breaker Assembly" describes a switchboard used within an industrial electrical power distribution system. A plurality of switches and circuit breakers are mounted within the interior of the switchboard. When a molded case circuit breaker is mounted within the switchboard interior, an externally-accessible actuator handle is required to move the circuit breaker operating handle between its ON and OFF positions. One operating system for remote electrical equipment which uses a flexible push-pull type cable to connect between the actuator handle and the circuit breaker handle is described within U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,638.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,638, requires a mechanical linkage interposed between the operating handle and the cable to affect the push-pull relationship between the actuator handle and the circuit breaker operating handle.
Circuit breaker operating mechanisms utilizing powerful overcentered springs to hold the circuit breaker contacts in their closed conditions often require a handle extender to increase the opening and closing forces required to move the springs between their over-centered open and closed positions. U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,532 describes a handle extension assembly used to increase the opening and closing forces applied to a molded case circuit breaker operating handle. Rudimentary extenders for electric switches, circuit breakers, shovels and the like are disclosed within U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,723,329; 3,142,744; 4,115,669 and 4,615,553.
When such molded case Circuit breakers are enclosed within electrical equipment enclosures requiring an externally accessible actuator mechanism of the type described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 561,760 filed Aug. 2, 1990 entitled "Molded Case Circuit Breaker Variable Actuator Mechanism", such circuit breaker handle extenders are no longer feasible.
One purpose of this invention is to provide an actuator mechanism which includes a direct connection between the actuator handle and the cable as well as between the circuit breaker and the cable in an endless loop configuration without requiring any intervening mechanical linkage assembly. A further purpose of the invention is to provide increased closing and opening force to the actuator handle and the circuit breaker operating handle by means of an actuator handle extender.